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Letters to the Editor
 
Kenwood is not a venue for concerts

• INCREASING commercialisation is threatening the Kenwood landscape. Concerts have taken place at Kenwood for many years because people like to hear good music in a beautiful setting. However, the infrastructure to support and stage these concerts has long been taking over from any sensitivities towards the landscape – increasingly amplified music, fireworks, more people, vehicles and structures.
The latest plans include increasing the noise levels, and the construction of a new stage floating on top of the historic Thousand Pound Pond.
If this goes ahead the balance between the needs for revenue and the stewardship of the Iveagh Bequest to maintain the landscape becomes one-sided. Rather than Kenwood being a setting for music, the concerts seem to be becoming the raison d’etre for Kenwood.
And there is little meaningful consultation over this and other issues at Kenwood. There is a licence application with Camden Council only for the concerts but no planning application put forward yet for the proposed new structure.
As the structure is going to be there for more than 28 days and is in the grounds of a listed historic landscape, it must be subject to a planning application.
There are as yet no details about the stage from either English Heritage or International Management Group (IMG) – which organises the lucrative dates for English Heritage – other than it will not be bigger than the current structure hidden on the bank at the back of the Pond and that it will be floating on the water.
We feel it is imperative that proper consultation should take place. The new stage would dominate the Thousand Pound Pond for the entire season of ten weeks, plus however long it would take to erect and dismantle it – maybe twelve weeks – in the height of the summer when the majority of visitors come to Kenwood. No one at English Heritage seems to be interested in protecting the landscape from such a visual intrusion.
The structure will be visible from all angles and will be in full view of the House. This view is one of the historic views of the landscape which will therefore be marred for the most popular quarter of the year at least.
Considering that views at Kenwood have been one of English Heritage’s major preoccupations over the years, it seems bizarre – or just financially convenient – that they want to ruin one. The impression is that English Heritage is now only interested in maximising revenue and is allowing IMG to have full rein with their demands, to the detriment of the Kenwood Estate.
The priorities at Kenwood are upside-down. The paying public get priority over the quiet majority who value Kenwood for its less attention-grabbing qualities: a peaceful, green refuge in the heart of London where one can walk and commune a little with nature.
Juliet Purssell
Chairwoman
Kenwood Trees
Falkland Road
NW5


Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.
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